


Reminisce

by OpalizedBone



Series: Zora Shepard [2]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Family Fluff, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Post-Canon, Reminiscing, and shepard has passed on, so liara’s 700 years old, this is set during andromeda, uuuuh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 07:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16828279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpalizedBone/pseuds/OpalizedBone
Summary: During the time of Andromeda, Liara receives a message from the Pathfinder. She and her daughters, Nires and Arysa, reminisce about Shepard.





	Reminisce

Liara was 710 years old when she received word about the Andromeda Initiative. It appeared they’d arrived in the Heleus cluster nearly two years ago, and much had transpired since then. Alec Ryder had died almost as soon as they’d arrived; apparently, his young daughter had taken up role of Pathfinder. She’d done much, accomplished much, and had been able to get word back to Liara with the help of a species called the Angara’s technology. 

Liara smiled as she read over the message again.

_ Dr. T’soni, _

_ I hope this message finds you well. You might not remember, but over 600 years ago, you helped my father, Alec Ryder, with his SAM project for the Andromeda Initiative. He died when we reached the Andromeda galaxy, and I took his place. We’ve done a lot of good here. _

Liara read on, her eyes widening with everything the young Pathfinder had done. She did remember helping Alec Ryder, although it felt like lifetime ago.

_ I suppose it was a lifetime ago,  _ Liara thought, bittersweet. She reached up and touched the dog tags hanging around her neck, her fingers lingering on the cool metal.  _ Shepard...how I miss you. _

It had been centuries since her beloved bondmate had passed on. They’d defeated the reapers together, helped the galaxy recover after the war, even helped rebuild artificial intelligence after the crucible had destroyed it all. After, they’d crafted a life for themselves, free of the constant threat of war and death. Shepard had lived longer than most humans thanks to her cybernetics, but even she couldn’t match an asari’s lifespan.

“Mother?” a voice called, and Liara looked up with a smile to see her daughter, Arysa, coming in the door, followed closely by her sister Nires.

“Hey, there,” Liara said. Her daughters stepped out of their shoes before joining her on the couch. Both Arysa and Nires had Shepard’s dark eyes, and Nires had her nose. Liara smiled slightly, her own eyes crinkling with affection. She picked up her datapad to continue reading.

_ I didn’t think we’d be able to message anyone in the Milky Way once we were here. I suppose I won’t get anything back from you, unless technology’s advanced a lot more than we anticipated in the 600 years we were in cryo. We were lucky the Angarans were able to adapt their technology to ours so I could get this message to you. _

Liara could write back to the Pathfinder. She could tell her the story of Commander Shepard, how she’d saved the galaxy, become a hero. She could tell her how they’d reversed the krogan genophase, wiped out the reapers, discovered the truth of the Protheans--surely the Pathfinder would be interested in that, at least; she’d studied the Protheans herself. The Andromeda galaxy deserved to know all that had happened in the Milky Way.

_ Anyway, I hope this message wasn’t too weird to get. I know it’s been a while--600 years, in fact--but I thought you’d like to hear what’s been happening in Andromeda. You helped make it happen, after all. _

_ Yours, _

_ Ryder _

Liara smiled. It wasn’t weird to get at all; in fact, it was nice to hear from the Initiative. They’d mostly faded from her thoughts as the centuries had passed, but reading Ryder’s message brought a kindling of nostalgia. She’d just started working as the Shadow Broker when she’d first received contact from Alec Ryder; Shepard had just come back from the dead, but hope they’d win the war was at an all-time low. The Andromeda Initiative had been nothing more than an idea at the time, a faint spark of hope that they could live on, in another galaxy, if not their own. She’d helped Alec out of desperation, but it had taken a backseat to everything she’d done with Shepard.

“Mother, you’ve got that look on your face again,” Nires said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You’re thinking of Mom again, aren’t you?”

“Not exactly,” Liara said. “You remember when I told you of the Andromeda Initiative, don’t you?”

“Yeah, ages ago,” Arysa nodded, raising one side of her brow just like Shepard used to. She had rather intricate facial tattoos, much more so than Liara’s eyebrow markings, and they shifted fluidly with the movement.

“Well…” Liara began reading the message, and her daughters listened intently, as serious and single-minded as their mom had been.

Their conversation drifted to Shepard, as it so often did. Her daughters had been young when Shepard died, Nires only 161, Arysa even younger at 149, and it had been a long time. She found Shepard’s face harder and harder to picture each time she tried, and cherished the holos and vids she had saved. She’d been young herself, only 280, when Shepard had died at 203 years old, but she still felt her loss keenly.

Many asari--her daughters included, to an extent--didn’t understand why she hadn’t taken a new bondmate. She’d known Shepard was going to die before her, had seen the slow decline in her lover’s health as she aged, and still, her death had been a blow. There’d been others, a few non-serious dates over the years, but no one had captured her attention like Shepard had.

Liara had been extraordinarily young when she’d had her daughters, especially for an asari. She was only 119 when she had Nires, and 131 when Arysa was born. Even though she’d only been an adult by Asari standards for a couple decades, she didn’t regret it at all. Her daughters reminded her of Shepard so much sometimes.

Nires and Arysa were wonderful. She and Shepard had enjoyed raising them together for 150 years before Shepard passed on. Her bondmate hadn’t gotten the chance to see their daughters grow like she had, but she knew Shepard was waiting for them all in the afterlife.

Her daughters had each had a couple bondmates already, given that they were both in their 600s. Arysa had been with Rani for a few years now, a quarian, a nice girl whom Liara approved of. She thought she might actually be a distant relative of Tali, although she hadn’t told her daughter that. Because really, who wanted to know their bondmate was the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of their mom’s old friend? Even Liara could see that would be odd. She wasn’t confined to a suit like Tali had been; the Quarians had re-adjusted to life on Rannoch rather well, all things considering. And Nires was beginning to get serious with the Turian girl she’d been talking to; Liara suspected they’d tie the bond in the near future. Her heart had ached for her daughters each time one of their bondmates passed on, but both Nires and Arysa took a more traditional view of their pairings; enjoying the time together, grieving for a couple decades, and then putting themselves back out there. Liara admired her daughters for that, but found the idea abhorrent for herself. What she and Shepard had was special. She couldn’t imagine sharing that bond with someone else.

“Mother?” Arysa called her back to the present. “We lost you again.”

“Sorry, little wing,” Liara smiled, reached out to brush her hand affectionately over her daughter’s cheek. “I’m just thinking.”

“About Mom?” Nires prompted, and Liara nodded this time.

“You miss her,” Arysa said. It wasn’t a question. Liara nodded again, a sudden lump forming in her throat.

“We do too,” Nires frowned. “It’s been a long time.”

“And yet it feels like yesterday, sometimes,” Liara sighed. Then she smiled. “I’m going to write Ryder back, tell her about the Reaper war. Want to help?”

“Of course,” Nires said excitedly. She had studied history, and found the topic fascinating--just like her mother. Arysa smiled and agreed good-naturedly; she didn’t much care for history, but she loved talking of her mom.

“Pathfinder Ryder,” Liara said out loud as she began to type her message, her daughters looking over her shoulders. “It was good to hear from you…”

**Author's Note:**

> So...yeah! Just something kinda short to introduce y’all to Nires and Arysa. I’m gonna have more fics posted to this Zora Shepard collection, that will take place in between this one and Attack on Mindoir, but this is just what i happened to write yesterday. Comments and kudos are really appreciated!!


End file.
